Apple Says More Ex-Employees May Have Taken Confidential Data to OpenAI (techcrunch.com) 16
Apple is now seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent OpenAI and Jony Ive's io startup from developing AI hardware allegedly based on stolen Apple trade secrets. "The iPhone maker also claims that more of its former employees may be involved with the trade secrets theft," reports TechCrunch. From the report: In a new filing, Apple is requesting expedited discovery from the accused OpenAI employees, senior systems engineer Chang Liu and Chief Hardware Officer Tang Yew Tan; OpenAI, and its foundation; and io, the device startup co-founded by Apple's former lead designer Jony Ive. Apple also notes that its continued investigation has so far revealed 11 other former Apple employees beyond Liu and Tan may have been witnesses or otherwise involved in the case, and others who were previously named in the original complaint, like OpenAI employee Yu-Ting Peng.
The filing marks an escalation in Apple's legal battle with OpenAI, as it suggests Apple has uncovered new evidence that the misconduct goes beyond the former employees named in the original complaint. "For example, another former Apple employee seems to have met with Mr. Liu and Ms. Peng in advance of Ms. Peng's interview at OpenAI and discussed with them during that meeting Apple proprietary information relating to unannounced products," the filing states. "Yet another former Apple employee took screenshots of confidential Apple documents relating to an unannounced Apple product before an interview at OpenAI."
"And, after Apple filed its complaint, multiple former Apple employees now working at OpenAI reached out to discuss returning Apple-issued work devices they kept when they left Apple," Apple claims, suggesting there were more who were possibly involved with the scheme. Apple is pushing the court to allow for expedited discovery because it believes it has good cause to suspect that there are others involved in the theft of its intellectual property. The company noted that its motion for a preliminary injunction is also pending. Apple's request for a preliminary injunction is "both based on false information and completely unnecessary because we do not have, nor want, any of their trade secrets," said OpenAI in a blog post.
"We're much more interested in building innovative products and technologies that push the frontier," OpenAI's statement reads.
The filing marks an escalation in Apple's legal battle with OpenAI, as it suggests Apple has uncovered new evidence that the misconduct goes beyond the former employees named in the original complaint. "For example, another former Apple employee seems to have met with Mr. Liu and Ms. Peng in advance of Ms. Peng's interview at OpenAI and discussed with them during that meeting Apple proprietary information relating to unannounced products," the filing states. "Yet another former Apple employee took screenshots of confidential Apple documents relating to an unannounced Apple product before an interview at OpenAI."
"And, after Apple filed its complaint, multiple former Apple employees now working at OpenAI reached out to discuss returning Apple-issued work devices they kept when they left Apple," Apple claims, suggesting there were more who were possibly involved with the scheme. Apple is pushing the court to allow for expedited discovery because it believes it has good cause to suspect that there are others involved in the theft of its intellectual property. The company noted that its motion for a preliminary injunction is also pending. Apple's request for a preliminary injunction is "both based on false information and completely unnecessary because we do not have, nor want, any of their trade secrets," said OpenAI in a blog post.
"We're much more interested in building innovative products and technologies that push the frontier," OpenAI's statement reads.
Re:Security? (Score:4, Interesting)
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And given the explicit mention of Jony Ive, that's most likely in the right ballpark rather than purely a joke.
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Apple doesn't even do any AI, so I wonder what these AI companies are supposedly poaching.
AI isn't going to make a profit, so they are probably looking for something that will.
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AI has to be "trained" on data, an training it on itself gives poor results, so your point merely serves to show that you don't know enough about the subject to comment on it. You should instead be at the "asking questions" stage.
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There is very little a security expert can do when engineering teams push back on draconian policies that interfere with day-to-day work.
Generally, it's far easy to hire attorneys and deal with the problem in long drawn out court battles that bankrupt ex-employees that you wish to accuse.
Well (Score:3)
Good thing they BYOD so all that data is so easy to exfiltrate.
We don't want your secrets (Score:2)
Right. Dry that one out and you can fertilize the lawn.
If I were OpenAI... (Score:5, Interesting)
...I would not want to hire thieves. They're just as likely to steal from you as from their previous employer. Not saying OpenAI necessarily wouldn't, just that I wouldn't.
Let discovery take its course. If there's any there there, we'll find out what it is.
Re: If I were OpenAI... (Score:2)
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Trade secrets are protected by law. You can't take them with you when you leave an employer. However, you can take with you your skills and knowledge.
How the courts make the distinction comes down to evaluation of various factors, such as whether the idea is valuable, whether it is not easily repeated, whether a company invested effort in developing it, whether a company took steps to protect it from public release, and so on.
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If Apple wasn't able to keep their critical employees from jumping ship, then that's really on Apple for not recognizing or being willing to retain their employees at market price.
And now, by suing a bunch of former employees, they're giving employees who might be thinking about jumping ship a reason to pause. Whether Apple wins or loses the lawsuit, Apple wins.
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Says it all! And these are the smart people? (Score:2)